Biography

Antman is one of Australia's pioneering deejays, it all started around the mid 1980's in Sydney, Australia. During the 1980,s Antman known as Anthony, became dedicated to music of all genres with a keen interest in the live band and dance club scenes alike. "Variety is the spice of life!" - one of Antman's favourite lines over the years. The love of music, listening to live bands and clubbing was undoubtedly the catalyst of Antman's successful deejay career. Music was always a major part of daily life, with headphones and Walkman on during every moment of daily routine.

During the period 1986-1987 Anthony was discovering the Sydney club scene. It became a Mecca for the music that had inspired him at the end of his secondary schooling. The club scene in the 80's was a totally different scene from the late 90's. Depeche Mode, Underworld, Kraze,Run DMC, Jomanda, Kenya Travitt, Taravhonty were the artists the DJ's were playing in the clubs then. This was the period when Djs were cutting and sampling whilst beat mixing and DMC contests were gaining universal appeal.

Sydney was now starting to produce big dance parties in warehouses that could hold crowds of up to 15000 people. All through this time Anthony was to hold down 2 jobs whilst clubbing on the Sydney circuit. In 1987 a new club opened in Sydney called Metropolis. It started a new revolution in nightclub décor and style in Sydney. After meeting some of the resident Djs there Anthony was hooked. Before too long had passed he was working the lighting console. The lighting job kept him out all night and constantly in tune with the latest dance tunes. He became very good friends with one of the resident Djs Drew Muirhead. Drew was the 8th runner up in the DMC championship in 1988 and would eventually be Anthony's mentor.

Over the next few months Drew gave a few quick DJ lessons to Anthony. One night Drew handed over the headphones and said go for it. That was the first time he had ever played to a crowd! 3 months later Anthony was deejaying in one of Sydney's most popular clubs. He would take over the Thursday nights and eventually become resident deejay for the Friday and Saturday nights. Over the next year Anthony slowly made his mark as Sydney's newest Dj and was growing in popularity. It was not uncommon for him to play at private house parties and also large dance party events.

In 1989 Acid house from Chicago and the UK hit the Australian shores. Dance acts such as Humanoid, Tyree, Rob Base, Sterling Void, Fast Eddie, Raze, Royal House, Yazz, Inner City, Shakir along with producers such as Todd Terry, Kevin Saunderson, Mayday, Master Reese, Julian Jumpin Perez, Magic Juan, Shep Pettibone and others were to be part of Antman's program mix in the clubs. "We followed the international scene with vigilance, I think that this had a positive effect on the clubs in Australia. Our clubs had an 'underground' feel to them."

Sydney club goers would experience a variety of styles of dance music from Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Hip House, Techno, Acid and Tech house. These genres would all be programmed into Antman's set. Simon Harris, Stevie V, MC Showbizz, Young MC, Soul 2 Soul, De La Soul, Kid Creole, Pop will eat itself, Rebel MC, De lite were just some of the artists that were played along with the Acid and Techno underground dance hits. During Antman's residency at Metropolis he played alongside and supported people such as Gary Clail, Alison Limerick and Kevin Saunderson.

In 1991 Antman became resident at a new club called Neo Pharaoh, it was one of Sydney's most expensive and lavish clubs. With state of the art sound and lighting this club was programmed to impress. The music influences of this period were becoming more tech based for Antman. His style was starting to head towards the break beat techno sounds that were now being played in the clubs around Europe. House of Windsor, Sons of Loop da Loop, Njoi, Messiah, Praga Kahn, and Space Master are just some. Moby, D Ream, Fargatta and Sunscream were the acts that were mixing House beats with acid and progressive loops, topping it off with great female and male vocals. Australia was starting to get in on the act. Astral Project from Melbourne released the track 'Come with Me', which took Europe clubs by storm in 1992.

In 1992 Antman took off to Europe for a holiday. There he caught up on the dance music scene and culture. Break beat Techno was still going strong and there was a new style called Jungle arriving on the scene too. After returning to Australia, Antman took up his residency at Neo Pharaoh again and stayed until the end of 1994. During this period Techno to Funk were the genres. Whilst at the club Antman played alongside Dj/Producer Oliver Lieb, Soul 2 Soul and Lonnie Gordon. Antman finally left Neo Pharaoh in 1995 and left Australia to take up residency in new club called the 'Underground Café' in Beijing, China.

It was a bold move to experience the world and mix the music he liked to the Chinese. After 6 months Antman was starting to get a name for himself in Beijing and slowly the club became increasingly popular with expatriot and Chinese alike. This was the edge that clubbing in China was looking for.

Antman returned to Australia in 1996 to take up residencies all over Sydney and interstate. Toward the end of 1998 two software companies Codemasters and Ozisoft approached Antman and invited him to become their official representative deejay for the new release of the Playstation program called 'Music'. Antman produced and released limited CD of which the tracks were wholly produced on Sony's Playstation using the MUSIC program.

In 1989 Antman travelled to China to take up a 6-month residency at a club in Shanghai called Rojam nightclub which was produced by Tetsuyo Komuro. As Production Director Antman's objective was to teach and show the production staff how to operate all the multimedia, lighting and sound equipment in the club. Antman played alongside Paul Oakenfold, Pete and Jools from Progress and Nick Warren. Antman was guest deejay for Channel V Carlsberg Club V Parties, MTV Summer Dance Parties and the China Perfecto Summer Tour of 1999.Over this period the music influences were from artists such as Daft Punk, Spiller, Bob Sinclar, Boris Dlugosch, Doug Willis. Antman's program was now getting a lot funkier.

In 1999 Antman once again ventured east to China to tour with MTV Asia as the Australian Deejay for the MTV Summer Parties series. He travelled to cities such as Dalian, Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The end of 1999 saw RAGE (Rhythm and Groove Entertainment) open for business. The purpose of this venture was to oversee and co-ordinate Australasian tours for established international deejays and musical acts. Now a DJ/promoter, Antman would accompany performers as tour manager throughout Australasia. Some of the Djs and Producers that toured have been Jazzie B and Bibow of Soul 2 Soul, Roger Sanchez, Ian Ossia, Rowan Blades, Quivver, Junior Sanchez and Danny Howells, Armand Van Helden, Spiller and Supermen Lovers. Antman not only toured these artists but also played on the same bill. The tours covered cities like Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and then on to all the major cities in Australia.

In 1999 Codemasters UK approached Antman to be the official representative for the updated release of MUSIC 2000. The new millennium saw Antman concentrate on artist and event promotion. He only played at RAGE promoted events. It was also established to start exporting local deejays for residencies in overseas clubs, import deejays for residencies in local clubs and to manage local talent - both singers and deejays in Australia. Antman has also been guest announcer on Radio stations such as Rhythm Fm and Radio Dex over the last 3 years in Sydney. Antman's future goals are to set up and provide one of the best Australian deejay export services for the Asia-Pacific region. Studio production is only just around the corner. This will be the next phase of the diverse music career that has made Antman today!

Antman now plays Funky Electro House/Breaks, Old school Hip Hop/R&B, Funky House and Groove.

Currently Antman is spinning @ Club 97 every Thursday playing the ladies night favourites. On Fridays you can catch him playing Electro House at Club97 located in the LAn Kwai Fong area of Hong Kong.

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